We’re Still Traveling Like It’s 1996

Travel still provides some of the highest human anxieties of anything we do on a routine basis. There are countless variables when it comes to travel: weather, mechanical issues, overbooked flights, traffic, human delays and so much more. But if we could combine all of our intelligent data in a way that it works together, travel disruptions could be corrected automatically and efficiently.

Think about Google’s self-driving car and all of the random occurrences and variables it encounters on the road — and its ability to react and correct based on real-time information. Smart travel should not be so different.

This is the overarching problem with travel today: booking travel efficiently — and getting a good deal on it — is still very labor-based and lacking in transparency. Ultimately, there are hundreds (or thousands?) of customer-service agents on the other side of Expedia’s or Orbitz’s online booking portals, and if just one aspect of travel plans falls out of place, customers are forced to wait on hold to speak to a live person.